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Lady Longhorns runners-up to SPVA title

By Jan SchultzThe Imperial Republican It was close, closer than it said it would be on paper. But, the Lady Longhorns were just 11.5 points shy of a repeat SPVA Conference title. North Platte St. Pat’s pulled out the conference championship Friday in a near perfect day for track in Hershey, something teams haven’t seen this season. Last year, the two teams battled for the SPVA title, but ended up in a tie for a shared championship. Head Coach Al Zuege said it came down to an exceptionally strong St. Pat’s team this season. “They have been very strong the last two years,” he noted. However, the Lady Irish’s four seniors this season are their top scorers, while Chase County has a strong, younger team coming up the ranks. Coach Zuege noted with just three seniors this season, the underclassmen have put up a lot of points for Chase County, and a strong eighth grade class will be freshmen next year. That bodes well for the possibility of future SPVA championships. In looking back to Friday’s meet, Coach Zuege said, on paper, St. Pat’s was projected to win by a wider margin than 11.5 points. So, he was happy with his team’s performance, saying it was a good day for Chase County. The team scored in every event but the 800, and won three of them. Conference champions included Valeria Cervantes in the shot put, Kristen Jussel in the 300 meter hurdles and MaKenna Ketter in the high jump. Zuege said his team had good overall scoring from athletes in the other jumps, hurdles, distance races and sprints. The best event for the Lady Longhorns, point-wise, was in the shot put, where Cervantes’ first, Jodi Koellner’s second and Ally Vrbas’ fourth tallied a total of 22 team points. Chase County also had three place-winners in the 1600, with a second from Paige Spady, fourth from Alyssa Moreno and sixth from Annika Swanson. Overall, the team turned in 11 personal bests in the meet. Despite a win by Mandy O’Malley in both the 1600 and 3200, Chase County’s distance runners’ depth scored nearly as many points as St. Pat’s in those two events. Coach Zuege said the SPVA conference, especially on the girls’ side, has become very competitive in recent years. Previously, Perkins County and Sutherland were the biggest competition for Chase County, who had earned a string of 21 straight SPVA championships. But, Zuege said St. Pat’s and Hershey have improved a lot in track, as well, making for some good, competitive conference teams. Team scoring at SPVA was St. Pat’s 146.5, Chase County 135, Sutherland 112, Perkins County 69, Hershey 55.5 and Maxwell 8. Here are the top six finishers at SPVA in each event.

Last regular season meetFriday; districts May 9 After sending three girls in five events to Tuesday’s Best of the Midwest, Chase County will compete in its final regular season meet Friday. The Dundy County/Stratton twilight meet gets underway at 12:30 p.m. in Benkelman. Coach Zuege said this has developed into a good meet, with 10 teams expected. And, Friday’s weather forecast looks promising. Then the team will begin preparations for the district meet next Thursday, May 9, in Grant. More on districts will be in next week’s issue.